Annette Kelm Coxcomb Red, 2023

Coxcomb Red is a work from Annette Kelm’s series of floral still-life arrangements. The work depicts a number of flowers held upright in a metal spring on a light green surface.  The integration of various objects into the compositions and the deliberate inclusion of formal inconsistencies in the alignment of the bright paper backgrounds draw attention to the act of arranging the motifs. These self-referential allusions to studio photography, to the artificiality of its staging, are a characteristic gesture in Kelm‘s practice, whose works are always imbued with a deep knowledge of and reflection on the medium of photography and its history.